Several special events in Toronto this weekend will involve road closures. Residents and visitors are encouraged to come out and enjoy these events. Businesses in the areas affected are open to pedestrian traffic but some roads will be closed to vehicles.

Festivals and other special events are important to the city, injecting hundreds of millions of dollars annually into Toronto’s economy, and they are enjoyed each year by local residents.

In addition to road closures related to special events, a significant amount of road work is taking place in the city. People are encouraged to take public transit as a greener, faster and more affordable way of getting to their destinations.

Those who need to drive in the general vicinity of special events should allow extra time to get to and from their destinations. A more complete list of events and road work is available at http://www.toronto.ca/roadrestrictions.

TTC customers can receive information about service diversions by subscribing to eAlerts at http://www.ttc.ca/ or by following @TTCnotices on Twitter.

Toronto Tamil Festival
Markham Road between McNicoll Avenue and Passmore Avenue will be closed in both directions from Friday, August 26 at 10 a.m. to Sunday, August 28 at 11:59 p.m. for this festival. There is minimal parking in the vicinity of the event, and the festival's organizers remind people planning to attend that cars parked illegally on private property are likely to be tagged and towed. Use of public transit is encouraged for travel to and from the festival.

Bloorcourt Arts and Crafts Fair
Bloor Street West between Dufferin Street and Montrose Avenue will be closed in both directions on Saturday, August 27 from 7 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. for this event. Dovercourt Road and Ossington Avenue will be open to vehicular traffic.

Leslieville Beerfest
Dundas Street East between Logan Avenue and Carlaw Avenue will be closed in both directions on Saturday, August 27 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. for the Leslieville Beerfest.

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.